Hanging out with Neighbors at the Fire

We LOVE our (the building went in together and bought a fire pit) cold weather camp fires! The men get wood together and build a fire and the kids and women keep warm! The kids loved roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores. We have a lot of fun together...one big family!

"That's How You Do it"

Let me just say, NO ONE taught her how to do this. She broke out in this dance after her bath tonight. Is this hilarious or what????!!

HaPpY HallOwEeN!!

Our Halloween Night Story

We really wanted to make a difference this Halloween. We feel that it is silly to sit at home and turn our light off because Christians "shouldn't celebrate Halloween." We obviously do not want our kids to be scared or anything like that, but we need to be where the people are to share God's love and that is just what we did. We made little thank you notes to pass out to the houses. Madelyn loved handing out the notes as much as she loved getting candy. One man said, "thank you so much! This is the first treat I've gotten!" How precious. Here is what our note said...

Happy Halloween!
"Our Trick, God's Treat"

Thank you so much for the treat,
we know that it will be fun to eat!
We want to share this thought with you and
hope that you will share it too!

Long before time began, Father God had a plan
for His people to without sin get along
But we blew it, you see, when we chose selfishly to insist on OUR WAY and do wrong.

What we did was a trick that made God really sick
But He didn't trick us in return
He reached out with a treat that is sweeter than sweet
It's a treat that we never could earn

God says, "I'll be your friend!
I'll forgive all your sin
I sent Jesus to make you brand new."
On this Halloween night as you turn out your light,
just remember how much He loves you!

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16

For more information about how to have a personal relationship with Jesus please contact the Martin family at chandrabmartin@aol.com

We pray that you will seek the Lord in what you should do with your family for Halloween. We believe that engaging culture is necessary to reach the lost. People need Jesus, are you willing to do what it takes to tell them about Him?

Justin pulled Catharine in the wagon down the street from house to house and I held Madelyn's hand most of the time. Madelyn loved trick-or-treating. She especially loved handing out the notes we had made for each home. She would say "here's your treat!" People really enjoyed getting something in return, they were pleasantly surprised!

Madelyn knew there was lots of candy in her bag. It was hard work keeping her out of the bag and focused on what we were doing. I gave her one tootsie roll,which was a huge mistake because then she knew what she was missing out on!

You can see the Batman couple behind Justin and our friend Dan. Those were the first masked people Madelyn saw and she wasn't too sure about them at first, but she didn't get scared. I was very pleased about that. She just watched them carefully at first and then moved on. There were some other scary costumes that we passed by, but she never noticed. I think she was too occupied worrying about all the candy going into her bag.

We parked in a Seminary parking lot near downtown. These are all the kids from our friend's apartment building. Lots of them, huh? I am in the picture because Madelyn wouldn't stand by herself, this was when we first got there and she wasn't too sure about everything yet. Can you spot us??

This picture was taken the day before Halloween. I wanted to try the costumes on the girls to make sure they fit. We ended up dressing Catharine like Madelyn instead of the chicken costume that Madelyn wore her first year. Madelyn loved being a lady bug again. She pranced around the house looking in the mirror for an hour.

This is Madelyn's good friend Lana. We went to college with her Mom Rachael Armitt Davis. Rachael and Dan are very dear to our hearts. We've borrowed their bassinet for Catharine as well as their Baby Papasan, and swing. They have been huge blessings to us!

Leaving our camera memory card at home proved to be no big deal with Rachael and her camera close by. She was so sweet snapping pictures of us all night. I'm so thankful, or we would have none! Look at this sweet family shot!